What is global warming?

Question

Do you think that were going through global warming right now? Why?

Answer 1

Global warming is the observed increase in the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere and oceans in recent decades, and its projected continuation. Models referenced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predict that global temperatures are likely to increase by 1.1 to 6.4 °C (2.0 to 11.5 °F) between 1990 and 2100. The uncertainty in this range results from both the difficulty of predicting the volume of future greenhouse gas emissions and uncertainty about climate sensitivity.

Global average near-surface atmospheric temperature rose 0.6 ± 0.2 °Celsius (1.1 ± 0.4 °Fahrenheit) in the 20th century. The prevailing scientific opinion on climate change is that "most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations",[1] which leads to warming of the surface and lower atmosphere by increasing the greenhouse effect. Greenhouse gases are released by activities such as the burning of fossil fuels, land clearing, and agriculture. Other phenomena such as solar variation have had smaller but non-negligible effects on global temperature trends since 1950.

An increase in global temperatures can in turn cause other changes, including a rising sea level and changes in the amount and pattern of precipitation. These changes may increase the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such as floods, droughts, heat waves, hurricanes, and tornados. Other consequences include higher or lower agricultural yields, glacier retreat, reduced summer streamflows, species extinctions and increases in the ranges of disease vectors. Warming is expected to affect the number and magnitude of these events; however, it is difficult to connect particular events to global warming. Although most studies focus on the period up to 2100, even if no further greenhouse gases were released after this date, warming (and sea level) would be expected to continue to rise for more than a millenium, since CO2 has a long average atmospheric lifetime.

Remaining scientific uncertainties include the exact degree of climate change expected in the future, and especially how changes will vary from region to region across the globe. A hotly contested political and public debate has yet to be resolved, regarding whether anything should be done, and what could be cost-effectively done to reduce or reverse future warming, or to deal with the expected consequences. Most national governments have signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol aimed at combatting global warming.

Answer 2

I wonder how the name "Global Warming" came into general use, because it is not the "globe" of the earth that's warming up, as if there is more lava under the ground. Neither is the warming of the sea, atmosphere or ground surface global in extent - some places may actually get cooler as a result of the changes (I think the film "The Day after Tomorrow" is actually based on real scientific theories).
I was told by an environmental scientist that a single major volcanic eruption releases more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than all the cars in California do in a year. But that's not an excuse to be apathetic about the problem. Cars can kill us much quicker than climate change can, and we can adapt to climate change if we try. Our distant cave-dwelling ancenstors had to do it, so will our generation.

Answer 3

Global warming is a catch all for some people both for and against. You can find all kind of arguments both for and against. There are several things that cannot be disputted. Some of the Earth's largers glaciers at both the North and South Poles are dissappearring at an alarming rate. The simplest explaination that I can give is as follows. The Earth has had layers of air and gasses extremely high in the sky (Ionosphere, stratosphere etc.). These layers have been very similar to sun glasses for the Earth. They have prevented certain hot wavelengths of light from hitting the ground. They have been filtered out and bounced away from the Earth by the air layers. All of the chemicals and poluttants that have been manufactures on Earth by the US and other industrialized have been rising and been mixing with the protective layers. The result has been an increase of sun rays hitting the ground. Look at Austrailia. The Ozone layer over the South Pole has been diminishing over the past 100 years. Since the 1970's we have been ablt to take sattelitte pictures showing that an actual hole in the layer at different times of the year. This fact has been proven and cannot be disputted. One of the results has been an increase in temperature in the Southern Hemisphere along with a dramatic increase in skin cancer in the areas of the hole of the Ozone layer.
The extra rays that are now hitting the Earth are being bounced around down here. They come in through the hole, hit the Earth, bounce up and are relfected right back to earth because a portion of the layers are still working, for now.
The end result is the "GLOBAL WARMING". Those glaciers that I mentioned in the beginning are expected to completely dissappear before the end of this century.
This may have a major impact on you, but it will on your kids, and their kids.

Answer 4

Global warming an observed increase in the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere and oceans in recent decades. It's definantly not a hoax. we are going through it. the temperatures have been RISING FOR DECADES!! Watch Al Gore's Movie about global warming,it actually not too boring, a lot has changed on da earth becuz of dis!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 5

Global Warming is a political strategy used by liberals.

Answer 6

What blackBison said.

Global warming is all a Hoax. This new report they are talking about that supposedly proves that Humas are responsible has a lot of contradicting and falsified information in it. It was commisioned by the UN because scientists lately have been saying that it is not what we think it is. SO they had this new "report" done, so that we would still believe that we are killing the earth.

It is a naturally occuring trend that has cycles.

Answer 7

global warming is a myth. the earth goes through natural cycles of warming and cooling...

Answer 8

No becuase, well, have you checked the themometer latley?

Oh, and the temperature has been warming since the ice age.

and you can never listen to a guy who says he invented the internets.

Answer 9

A careful look at global warming, as a topic, shows that there is a great deal of disagreement about the facts and substance of climate change. Those who blame man for climate change often disagree about what facts lead them to that conclusion. Those who hold man totally innocent of it often ignore established facts. Experience and research leads us to believe that warming is, in fact, occurring; however, there is little to no objective evidence that man is the cause, nor that the effects will be catastrophic. The idea of earth “wearing out” is an apt analogy. This entire world has been continually decaying since the fall.

Global warming “facts” are notoriously hard to come by. One of the few facts universally agreed upon is that the current average temperature of Earth is indeed rising at this time. According to most estimates, this increase in temperature amounts to about 0.4-0.8 °C (0.72-1.44 °F) over the last 100 years. Data regarding times before that is not only highly theoretical but very difficult to obtain with any accuracy. The very methods used to obtain historical temperature records are controversial, even among the most ardent supporters of the theory of human-caused climate change. The facts leading one to believe that humans are not responsible for the current change in temperature are as follows:

• Global temperature changes from past millennia, according to available data, were often severe and rapid, long before man supposedly had any impact at all. That is, the current climate change is not as unusual as some alarmists would like to believe.

• Recent recorded history mentions times of noticeable global warming and cooling, long before man had any ability to produce industrial emissions.

• Water vapor, not CO2, is the most influential greenhouse gas. It is difficult to determine what effect, if any, mankind has on worldwide water vapor levels.

• Given the small percentage of human-produced CO2, as compared to other greenhouse gases, human impact on global temperature may be as little as 1%.

• Global temperatures are known to be influenced by other, non-human-controlled factors, such as sunspot activity, orbital movement, volcanic activity, solar system effects, and so forth. CO2 emission is not the only plausible explanation for global warming.

• Ice Age temperature studies, although rough, frequently show temperatures changing before CO2 levels, not after. This calls into question the relationship between warming and carbon dioxide; in some cases, the data could easily be interpreted to indicate that warming caused an increase in carbon dioxide, rather than the reverse!

• Computer simulations used to “predict” or “demonstrate” global warming require the assumption of human causation, and even then are not typically repeatable or reliable. Current computer weather simulations are neither predictive nor repeatable.

• Most of the global temperature increase of the last 100 years occurred before most of the man-made CO2 was produced.

• In the 1970s, global temperatures had actually been dropping since 1945, and a “global cooling” concern became prominent, despite what is now dismissed as a lack of scientific support.

• The “consensus” claimed by most global warming theorists is not scientific proof; rather, it is a statement of majority opinion. Scientific majorities have been wrongly influenced by politics and other factors in the past. Such agreement is not to be taken lightly, but it is not the same thing as hard proof.

• This “consensus,” as with many other scientific theories, can be partially explained by growing hostility to those with differing viewpoints, making it less likely that a person without preconceived notions would take on the subject for research. The financial and political ramifications of the global warming debate are too serious to be ignored, though they should not be central to any discussion.

• The data being used to support anthropogenic (man-caused) global warming is typically based on small data sets, single samples, or measurements taken in completely different regions. This creates an uncertainty in the results that rarely gets the attention that alarmist conclusions do.

While the above list is not exhaustive, it does include several of the major points that raise doubts about mankind’s actual effect on global temperatures. While no one can deny that warming is occurring, “overwhelming evidence” of any objective type does not exist to support the idea that global warming is significantly influenced by human actions. There is plenty of vague, short-sighted, and misunderstood data that can be seen as proving “anthropogenic” global-warming theory. All too often, data used to blame humans for global warming is far less reliable than data used for other areas of study. It is a valid point of contention that the data used in these studies is frequently flawed, easily misinterpreted, and subject to preconception.

In regards to issues such as this, skepticism is not the same as disbelief. There are fragments of evidence to support both sides, and logical reasons to choose one interpretation over another. The question of anthropogenic global warming should not divide Christian believers from each other (Luke 11:17). Environmental issues are important, but they are not the most important questions facing mankind. Christians ought to treat our world with respect and good stewardship, but we should not allow politically driven hysteria to dominate our view of the environment. Our relationship with God is not dependent on our belief in human-caused global warming.

For further research on global warming, we recommend the following articles:
http://www.icr.org/article/3233/
http://www.junkscience.com/Greenhouse/ http://www.clearlight.com/~mhieb/WVFossils/ice_ages.html
http://www.xtronics.com/reference/globalwarming.htm
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/5/14/161152.shtml
http://www.whrc.org/carbon/images/GlobalCarbonCycleLG.gif
http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg1/fig3-1.htm

Read more: http://www.gotquestions.org/global-warming.html#ixzz3IgkPqYcx

Answer 10

check it out for yourself, maaaaaaaaaaaaaan!

http://www.globalwarming.com/

http://www.globalwarming.piczo.com/

http://www.planetinneed.com/

http://www.algore.com/